Battle ground: the beginning
by derek.biggs
Summary: In the year 2415 the United Systems Naval Activity And the University of Naval Intelligence have expended vast amounts of resources to combat the alien force of intertwined species known as the vexerist. These new forces pose as a threat to humanities existence by the advance in technology. The USNA has developed super-soldiers known as Scythian, this is the story of James Jackson


Chapter-1

17:35 earth standard, 22:35 holin standard.  
En-route to Planet holin, Scythian development program "visor"  
Aboard the U.S.N.A sanctuary: blockade c-( TP-No-00172/Cu )  
System No- 0000061 ( derangus II )  
Thursday May 21st 2415  
James-K-Jackson  
_

"James wake up," Trevor yelled as he flipped on the lights to James' room. "Time to get up and get into your armor, the general wants us up front afterwards."  
"...Got it, so what's the meeting about?"  
"Something about a grid transfer, I dunno, but hey new faces I guess."  
"Always an optimist huh trev?"  
"Yep."  
James jumped out of bed, and prepared to dress out in armor. The main section of an under suit was a jet black whole body suit ( except the head ) that played as an armor placement guide. Special markings and reflective knobs allowed the armory drones to place the armor correctly. It also provided anti burn protection from the vexerist lycerium weapons for a thin layer of protection. The vexerist were what the U.S.N.A ( united, systems, naval, activity ) were at war with. It had been thirty two years since the war had started, and the humans were gaining a slight control with the new Scythian project.  
The next portion of attachments were small metal loops which connected to a grove in the fore arm section of the under suit. It's purpose was to regulate shield thickness between the body and the suit. Finally James was ready and headed to the 'on sight' armory. They were aboard a remodeled carrier that had been transformed into a Scythian, or military, transport structure. As well it had the necessary equipment to supply the needs of 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 vehicles. As he went he saluted officers and greeted fellow soldiers. Once he arrived he was the last to deploy his armor.  
James entered the room and approached an area of floor dedicated to dressing a scythians armor, a yellow and black line outlined a square with two red boxes inside that read " stand here." He stood pressed a yellow button on the pedestal ahead, punched in his serial code, and waited for it to turn green. A robotic set of arms transitioned and grabbed containers beyond James view, they were grabbing his armor and positioning it to be easily placed on the carrier. The sound stopped and a moment later a yellow light flickered from above and James stood still. It turned blue and James spread his arms out to one hundred eighty degrees, the light turned green and started placing his armor.  
First up was his boots, each weighed 450 pounds and was hauled effortlessly by the arms. They split vertically into two parts, each corresponding pairs was clamped around James' leg and then a bolt was drilled in two places locking them together. Next the quad guards, these pieces were joined by a hinge and locked together around the outside of James leg. Next was the groin guard that was raised from below and bent to snap shut around James waist, it was flexibly connected to a spine guard that set the foundation for the torso. Three pieces of armor were magnetically placed on the under suit at the abdomen, and each Side of the waist leading under James arms. The chest piece lowered from the light above and snapped under James arms and six bolts were drilled into the piece to hold it together. Next the bicep pieces were added and shoulder guards were clamped into holders on the piece. Finally four-guards and gloves were slipped on and clamped down. As a reward James' helmet was placed on the pedestal to his left.  
"So James, how does it feel?"  
"Good, about the same as the V threes. But feels... Roomier."  
"All is the same with you isn't it James, you've said it feels the same as the version three for a year now."  
"Well I liked the feel, I said it is roomier."  
"Anyway let's get you to the bridge before we get sought after."  
"Good idea, if there is anything I don't want after me, it defiantly general mandowa. She would knock us out for being tardy."  
The two headed out of the armory, turned left and entered an elevator. It took them to the bridge level and foot traffic was buzzing. James and Trevor raced down the steel halls for the bridge. On the way James visor blinded an intel officer where light had glared off of the reflective glass. The halls were dark, not because of a lack of light but because of the color of the metal walls. The only color was an orange line that raced the length of the floor and the occasional access box that glowed various colors. They had arrived and not a second too soon.  
"Ladies and gentleman." Mandowa started as she stood up from her desk. " you are aware of why I have called you down here, yes?" There was no response  
"Anyway you hundred and five scythians are being transferred to a new campus, there you will further begin your training as super soldiers. Your new commander will be Harold guizze, a formal marine and a graduate from the university of North-kelkuwaz on Regika. He has studied and developed Scythian armor and is willing to train the few of you until further notice." She walked around her desk and handed each of the scythians fore pads. Told them to equip them and then returned to her desk.  
"Here within the next forty five minutes we are going to exit dark stream and unload you guys, so go to you dorms, gather up you stuff, and shove off. Go."  
All the Scythians left and crowded to the elevators, once inside and on the appropriate floor James went to his dorm grabbed a duffle bag and began packing his things. Once finished he headed to the fire room and went to get His weapons. He located his slot, punched in a code to unlock the screen, and grabbed his weapons and attachments. They consisted of the legendary A.U.T.O-0.72, the optical Z00M, an LSA, and a II's thunderstick. He grabbed his side arm, the MTP-107 and slipped into his leg holder. Scythians could carry three weapons easily but James usually went with these two. He left the fire room without a word to any other soldiers and headed to the rear of the craft. James set down his things and closed his eyes. Forty five minutes came quick and an intel officer opened up the PA system.  
"All hands, we are exiting dark stream in five minutes. Please strap yourselves and loose materials down, that will be all."  
James shifted in his seat before exiting dark stream. A red light flickered the strap warning over a doorway. In another ten seconds the craft lurched forward and James almost was flung out of his seat. Due to the cellular augmentation process, and various chemical changes that the scythians underwent durning early training, each Scythian acted very similar and stubborn. Some of the scythians outside the room James was in hadn't strapped down fully and were sent flying into walls. Although no injuries were sustained due the the toughness of their bodies, they still complained about slamming into the wall.  
James was the son of a very well known war hero, Alex Jackson. Nearly twenty years ago Alex had been a simple marine but conquered feats nearly impossible for a Scythian. His heroic record had nearly no limit, he had too many medals to be named. Alex save thousand of lives, and killed many too. He had mysteriously disappeared after a battle in 2394 and is considered M.I.A.  
Most scythians chose to be a unique part of the pack. Each specializing in a certain field of weaponry and technology. James not even was he the most unsociable but uniquely the most intelligent. Not with knowledge by any means, but with combat. In every simulation he ranked in the top two, not by quickness or accuracy, but in skill and luck. He was the one lone wolf in his pack, during sparring sessions he had gained a reputation. It was plain and simple, 'don't let him last longer than thirty seconds.' Why is is the reason, James had learned over the years to adapt quickly to new challenges and deal with them quickly and without mercy.  
A group of scythians walked into the room James occupied and started cracking jokes. James ignored them and stared into the grated floor.  
"Let's go James, you've been looking right through the floor for five minutes. They opened the airlock doors minutes ago."  
"Yeah, sorry trev, Kinda lost contact with reality. "  
"Yeah well your no modern day psychic so stop trying to deform the floor. "  
Trevor turned on a heel and headed out the door that lead to the air lock as well James followed. A small heel shaped divot was left in the floor where he turned. James grabbed his duffle bag, and his legendary A.U.T.O-0.72. The A.U.T.O-0.72 was originally a prototype deemed to dangerous to use because of a manufacturing malfunction. James acquired it during a survival mission in training, it had been laying a crater surrounded by snow after an engagement during the training session, James had approached the weapon. He noted that he had seen the gun before and to bring it back with him for an expert to overview it.  
Once James brought the weapon back for analysis, this... Expert stated that it had survived an impact from falling from the outer atmosphere. He said it must've happened during a battle back in 2394. Now James knew his father had fought back before then and was tagged as MIA around this system. Was it possible it was his fathers, how could have his fathers legendary weapon of choice come to him. The A.U.T.O was severely damaged, James repaired it and added modifications making it a 'safe' weapon to use.  
After James gathered his belongings and headed out of the airlock, James found his way to the closest group of people in the universe he could call family. Danny waved James over and gave a signal to come quietly. Once there he did not easily blend in with the crowd. His armor was drastically different, instead of the standard silver and black under suit and green armor stains. He had a black and red under suit and an arctic camouflage finish.  
Indeed he was feared in any challenge, not for his skills and luck. But for the fact he was brutal and an elite commando. Not only is the rank hard to achieve, but it was only obtained by being known as a known wolf, ironically he needed to be able to function in all situation with unlikely teammates. After rounds of discussions James took a stroll and decided to get a feel of the facility.  
The dim steel walls towered over any man to step foot in the facility, scorch marks stretched all along the base of the walls, due to the fact the facility was once an spacecraft repair station. Some old signal lights where fried and broken on the consoles lining the walls. It was nicely converted to a training campus. Well nice for scythians at least. They preferred the look of a wrecked location. James exited the main area and walked down the hallway leading to his dorm, one of the lights flickered on and off, strobing angrily as if the flies around where bugging it. An auto-intelligence drone chased the flies with an electronic swatter, and finished off two by running over them with its rubber treads. The place was nice inside, very expensive art strewn around in tactical locations to lure visitors in circles of amazement. James found his room No-0072 and set his things down. After unloading all his belongings and neatly organizing and folding his clothes, he gazed at his only picture of his father. He stood at an average height and looked like any normal man. He had brown hair, and a large variety of scars due to the many engagements he had. He always looked angry, or maybe in pictures he was on edge in case of attack.  
Finally he gathered his weapon, attached his fore pad, five extra magazines, and attached the optical Z00M sight along with an LSA and II's thunderstick. James headed back past the lobby to the main area where professor Harold guizze stood coordinating battle simulations and organizing top course times on the giga-board. James record of 1:09.550 still stood. His score wasn't the highest but was a very high 38500 score, his record was obviously transferred from his earlier tests.  
"Finally decide to join us James?" Harold's personal A.I, jasmine asked.  
"Yeah I just was organizing my room a bit."  
"Good to see you made it. I like you colors too."  
"Yeah, nice to see my record is still standing, yes?"  
"Maybe not for long, your old pal Lucy is cleaning up court."  
"Hmm, I guess I just need to make it harder."  
"Good luck."  
Jasmine knew the look of determination when she seen it, she knew James was going to flatten the competition by drastically reducing his time. The course looked the same, but was also filled with new traps.  
Lucy dropped and skidded on her knees in a limbo fashion to avoid the chainsaw rumbling for her face. After passing it and sliding another foot or so sprung up and avoided yet another obstacle. James time was in jeopardy, Lucy was nearing the finish at 0.57.830 seconds. The last obstacle was a very thick towering wall. She looked and was found dumbstruck. Not only was it heavy, but tall and thick. Earlier James noticed a lever and knew that was the key, but it also seemed to be a timed trial.  
Lucy caught James gaze and rushed to the lever. Her time was narrowing to only five seconds left, the lever was pulled and the door raised. Though Lucy may have been the fastest Scythian in the entire facility, without the suits enhancements she would've never made it. She slipped under the door and crossed the line two seconds faster than James.  
"Well guess what James, your no longer the top dog in this park... Good luck next time?"  
"I know what to do though, so I should breeze past the course."  
"Maybe if the course didn't change you might. Each run, the course changes. But it still has the same objective. And on each new level of difficulty the objective will change."  
"Hmm I guess I'll wing it, just like old times."  
"Yeah, well good luck."  
After James and Lucy staggered on, Harold was rallying all the scythians to his desk. The scythians looked around the facility and exchanged course times while waiting for the rest to arrive.  
"I see you all have adapted well to your new home for the most part. As I said before I will say again, this facility is no playground. You all will face serious trials and dangers so be warned. " Harold strolled around his cluttered desk looking for his data tablet.  
"Now one thing is for sure you scythians will be obtaining new suits. The V-07 is on its way now and should arrive by tomorrow. In the meantime you will stop advanced training and tone it down. "  
"But sir we just got the earlier V-05s today don't you think we should stick with these."  
"No, the version five is very inefficient. It wasn't even installed with an advanced shield generator. And not to mention the G-05 impact breaker, Amber made That a mess. The models were supposed to be trashed. "  
"What we have is some documents of the new suit manuals. I want you all to link your fore pads up with my data tablet and download the link file of the manual. You must study these sometime tonight so you may get a head start on the suits performance."  
"I'll have all of you know that you still have your accounted colors you ordered. Oh and one other thing, you may still run the obstacle course tonight but also be reminded to read the manual, I advise doing so when waiting your turn. As well the other course fitted for team objectives is running. Now go about your business." All the other scythians scattered and went about their mind, James was about to leave to when Harold spoke up. "James may I have a word before you go."  
"Sure."  
"Seeing as you are one of the best in this facility, I have a proposition for you. Complete the course on level 15 in fifty-five seconds and I will specially order you the V-08c suit."  
"What about the rest of the squads, I know I might end up being stuck with one so why would I have more benefits."  
"For one, the program can't afford fifteen three-billion dollar suits. And we have been watching you James since the first week, we watched everyone. But when you started improving it grabbed our interests. We believe you may be better suited to a little extra. Think of it as a reward."  
"All right."  
James finished up the conversation with Harold and started to stroll to his room. On the way several friends or close relatives stopped by to greet him. The closest family member in the universe was three doors down from him. Dominic Jackson, James' brother. On the way into his room James caught a glimpse of his brother. Dom was studying his manual while playing with a red rubber ball. James continued and went into his room, he set down his fore pad and linked up the file screen on his visor.  
After an hour of looking through the manual and tinkering with various items around the room, James shutdown his visor, unlinked the forepad and exited the room. He headed to the armory room and stripped off his armor to his under-suit. The metallic arms gripped his armor and placed it orderly in a containment box marked Sc-0072'james'-K-J. Several lights flickered, and the room cast a bright cool blue. Hisses of rushing air flowed from within the crate when pistons locked the door. Another large arm grabbed the box and cycled to the storage area. Another buzzer went off and the rooms reflective walls flashed yellow and returned to normal.  
James shrugged and turned out of the room but was met by Dominic. James understood his wonderings about why he took off his suit, and mouthed the words 'I want to show off.' Dominic left and James followed suit. It was remarkable, the suit felt so light on his body, now even lighter off. Dominic turned to his room after skimming a hand on the red line that circulated the walls. James proceeded to the combat area and waited for his turn, he caught various gazes from his friends smirking and nodding hysterical disapproval. He snapped his attention to the clock. A tall muscular woman planted a foot on a steel rod and thrusted off with a lunge to a metallic landing platform. The clock read -00m:46s:005ms and she was 67% through the course.  
The woman landed with a clang and grew in determination as she raced toward another obstacle, the outer sections of the obstacles were bare, but inside the course no one would be able to see them coming. A large cushioned pad flew out from the right two feet above the ground measuring six feet in height. The woman spun to the left and pressed on, another raised from below and sent her vaulting backward. A thud sounded from behind a wall and her course was terminated at -01m:01s:308ms.  
"all to hell with this course!" The woman yelled from within the walls.  
"This is insane, how could a course this easy have so many surprises. I demand a retry Harold!" The woman rolled out of an exit gap and onto the concrete floor leaving cracks in the floor. She whirled around to Harold's desk and asked for a retry. He looked up through his thick glasses and replied with a disapproving nod.  
"You must wait for you turn, and the course won't be remodeled for another three minutes."  
"Can I call for the next run then."  
"No."  
The woman threatened to backhand him but resigned, afterwards she walked to the corridor leading to her room. She sighed heavily and punched a whole in the reinforced steel wall.  
"James come here please." Harold had asked from behind his computer. A paper fluttered to the floor and was caught under a desk leg.  
"Yes."  
"Explain to me why you took off your suit."  
"I decided if I am to get an unequal advantage, my suit, I will win it unequally."  
"Mmh-hmm so is it that, or are you showing off?"  
"A bit of both."  
"Hmm, you know that you are facing life threatening situations right."  
"Yes, I am aware."  
"Ok, good luck."  
James walked to the course waiting area and watched the course remodel its self. Large robotic arms moved objects and unscrewed large bolts. A small visible stream of air pressed its way out of a pistons vent to correct its angle. The course was finished and looked menacing. The starting gate had two poles erecting out of the concrete and supported a sign, it read 'level 15 -00m:00s:000ms-00% con. James K. Jackson' it was his turn. He walked up to the start area and slowed his heart rate with slow deep breaths.  
Large support beams towered to house a climbing section right after the end of the sets of random traps. The countdown started at thirty seconds and began to descend, now 26 seconds. 20, then 15. 6...4...2...1...00. James raced out of the gate and stormed through the mazing gray and red metallic walls. The first obstacle was a dropping wall, a two-ton wall that comes crashing down crushing everything under it.  
James sprinted toward it and slid on his side escaping the wall by inches. His time read 00m:06s:637ms-11%. Next was a winding tunnel of heated lasers. It was simple, the first section was a set of parallel lasers, James leaped through it. Next were mixed assortments of various angling lines, again he slipped right through a four square-foot opening. Next where three sets of revolving red death beams. He jumped through one and landed in a roll, next skidded through another small circular gap clearing it by six inches. Finally the last set flickered on and off rearranging itself each time with no available clearing room. He waited three seconds and jumped, he cleared it with the loss of a few head hairs.  
After exiting, a straight sealed tunnel appeared to the left of the exit, it housed ranges of lethal weapons from explosives to kitchen knives. After entering the tunnel a land mine flickered and illuminated the dark tunnel. James took a cautious step forward and three butcher knives sprang from beyond vision and sliced his bangs. Then a large gust of heat erupted from behind and James knew it was time to move. Two spike walls started to close at the end of the tunnel and various weapons exposed their metallic heads.  
After three feet a dart had whizzed by his waist, and glue traps revealed themselves. James took a quick leap forward over the glue and raced toward the halfway closed spikes. A pair of spears came from the left, then the right, James ducked the grabbed the second spear and vaulted over the second. Again a chainsaw sprang from the left, then from above. James ran on a wall for several feet and dodged both the hazards including a hatchet and more darts. The fire had reached the glue and it started to bubble and pop. Finally he had reached the end and hopped the land mine. The clock read 00m:32s: 053ms-51%. Next was a large twenty-five foot gap that had to be traversed on a set of poles with a two inch diameter. James took quick balanced steps from one pole to the next leaping over a pole at a time.  
Twenty seconds left. Next was a long sprint through traps and hazards. Two AC-DCs (Auto-Controlled-Destructive-Carrier) flew out of separate gaps behind the walls and gunned for James. He bolted, first a large pad thrust from the left and snagged James shoulder. He had spun to counter the force of the pad and stood firm. The small cars followed under the pad. Sixteen seconds left. Secondly the floor one meter ahead dropped revealing a sand trap, James jumped and flipped over the ten foot wide gap. Finally an automatic targeting drone (ATD) appeared and flashed to the form of an alien warrior. James pushed ahead and the cars jumped the sand trap using propulsion springs.  
The metal alien growled and spat maintenance oil on the ground. James grabbed one arm and twisted violently dislodging it at the joint. The alien form twisted to counter with a spin kick, but was met with its own left arm. It staggered backward and slammed into a wall. Noticing the cars closely behind, James crushed a leg joint and ripped it from under the alien. James hurled the metal limbs at the cars, one swerved and dodged a leg and the other was crushed by the force of the arm and slightly exploded scorching pads. James spun quickly back to the alien and let rip with a kick, the alien robot shimmered and returned to the form of an ATD. James quickly pressed on with nine seconds left. Last was a jump to a steel cable, and a twenty foot climb. The AC-DC was seven then five feet behind. James ran up the side of a wall and got a nine foot boost, he continued to climb, five seconds six feet, four seconds two feet left. The vehicle fell from the edge of the pads and tumbled harmlessly to a sloshy muddy grave.  
James hit the buzzer and the sign read 00m:53s:491ms-100%. He climbed down the latter to the floor and returned to his fellow scythians. A majority held a fixed gaze at the time with an opened jaw. Few had actually blinked in response and looked from the armor-less James to the time and back in shock. He had come virtually unscathed from a very advanced course, without armor. Dominic had emerged from the crowed and held out a clenched fist, James responded, in agreement Dominic returned to the group and allowed James to talk to Harold.  
"Good enough... I think that's a record for all time."  
"No James, for a Scythian yes but all time not even close."  
"What do you mean 'for a Scythian' we're the best of the best. Clearly a marine couldn't beat us."  
"For one, no not a marine, two you aren't the best of the best, and three it's classified."  
"What's classified."  
"Well ... I guess it's no secret we have other programs similar to the project Scythian. So I need to explain, back in 2368 an initiative program was established to create super soldiers. Each step was a mirror image of the strongest warriors in history. Of course the first program was SPARTAN. It failed within five years most where KIT (killed in training) the rest of the survivors are MIA."  
"That still doesn't answer my question."  
"Let me finish. After it failed in 2273, a new program started in 2275 called project Asyrian, it failed as well, a long line of super soldier programs have been initiated, Now we are at Scythian and so far it is a success. And to answer your question, our record is nineteen seconds. Set by a SPARTAN named Alexander Moree."  
"I got a long way to go if I want to reach that."  
"Yep."  
"I guess you still owe me a suit right?"  
"Apparently, I also have another gift."  
"What?"  
"Follow me."  
Harold and James walked past the other Scythians to his desk, a few tried to follow but was viciously waved away by an intelligence officer. At his desk, Harold opened draws and shuffled through files and various papers. Eventually he succeeded and found an old style lock-key, Harold rushed with James over to his office and unlocked a small box. Inside was a small circular tablet that appeared to be off. On Harold's contact it activated and green lights flickered and rays of energy strayed from its center, a beautiful female figure, made of light appeared and stretched.  
"What's the deal? I was having a good nap."  
"Amber this is James, James amber. This will be your new personal A.I, Amber."  
"Nice to meet you James, you remind me of your father."  
"James, this is one of the last series one left, she will accommodate you on your future trials."  
"Ok, but why me."  
" it was a late gift from your father, he has had many they you don't know about, and this he left up to Harold to give to you.  
"He also helped develop that particular set of armor you are wearing."  
"Really?"  
"Yes, and I need you to take me to the armory."  
James thanked Harold and left with Amber in his hand. She had projected herself to James and walked along side him. They walked by other soldiers and intel officers greeting them and saying hello. He finally arrived and Amber had already started the armor startup scripts. Just his helmet was present on a podium to the left and amber instructed him to pick it up.  
"James, a small circular ring is at the top of your helmet, tap it and a section will provide an entry for my tablet to be placed inside.  
James did as instructed and slipped her disk inside easily, James felt a surging amount of energy wash his mind.  
"It's comfortable enough in this helmet don't you think?"  
"Mmm, you aren't the one wearing it."  
An intelligence officer entered the room and waved James to follow her. She lead James back to the course area. All the Scythian where lined up in a row. Howard was directing his stylus left and right on his data pad. He looked up and pointed to the line. James hustled to the line and stood. Howard began pointing to people and pointing at three particular spots. These where the teams. These where their new families.  
James was with four other scythians, Sc-0066 Dustin Wilson, Sc-0063 Alexis Perry, Sc-0062 Benjamin Kendall, and Sc-0061 Antonio Vincent. Making James the fifth he was also the leader of the squad known as Alpha squad due to the talents of stealth in the small group all members decided on a nickname known as: (Shadow company)  
Dominic was in the next group with Sc-0074 Danny Morre. Sc-0073 Trevor Kent. Sc-0071 Lucy Hilton and Sc-0070 Eric fitzle. Dominic was not the leader, that role was taken by Danny. After all the teams where assigned, James excused himself from the group and went to his dorm.  
"Are you going to put up you helmet?"  
"Yeah amber, in a sec... Just looking."  
"Okay, now let's roll. I'm exhausted."  
"What do you mean, your an A.I, and you just had a nap."  
"I can dream can't I."  
James passed a maintenance drone that was working on a dented bench that a Scythian had crushed out of anger. He almost waved but decided not to. Even though he was sixteen, James was younger than most scythians. James walked across bridge extending over a river within the building and saw a few fish swimming downstream. He smiled and continued to his room. Once there, James switched on a light, took off his helmet and retrieved amber and set her on a desk next to his console. James flopped onto his bed and shut his eyes, Amber had taken the liberty to shut off the lights and allowed James to sleep.  
"Goodnight James."  
"Mmm, you too."  
Funny, amber thought just earlier he stated she had just had a nap, now he was napping himself. Whatever, tomorrow he was in for a BIG day and James would need all the strength he could get. Tomorrow was selection, for a first mission.

Chapter-2

08:16 earth standard 00:00 possible time approx

Currently in the dark stream: approx at 402:661/2709 DM-gigar  
System number- 0000022 ( fugukaratchi IV )  
Monday May 16th 2404  
Jordan-M-elker  
_

"Wake up Jordan." Cassandra shouted.  
Jordan woke with a start as Cassandra shouted from the next room and jumped out of his bed. He and Cassandra were the only two aboard the roadrunner class craft. Their mission was one of utmost importance, one of the lead doctors of UNI sent the two on a class-A special operation. Over the past several years UNI and the .P have teamed together to make some of the most powerful soldiers throughout history. Since having the last four trials fail within years this new segment is thought to be a breakthrough in genetic alteration and augmentation processes. Today the two where heading to hechpiekk to observe a six year old child named James, or Sc-0072. Currently the two were approximately three hours from the secentar intervention station on hechpiekk.  
Jordan had got out of bed, had shaved, and dressed appropriately to the assignment ahead. He wore a dank green shirt with a multicolored collar, regular white jeans and a pair of plain black shoes. The civilian fashion of this time was particularly strange. Now if you don't match then your different. Jordan also slipped on glasses and a silver watch. After getting entirely dressed Jordan went to his pilot seat.  
After ten minutes, Cassandra had sat in the opposite seat and over watched the monitors and lateral instruments. She wore a plain dress with a diagonal red and black streak. As well she had earrings and a red wide brimmed hat with a feather on the either side.  
"You look..."  
"Ha, save yourself Jordan. You know as well as I do that we wouldn't work."  
"Don't be so quick to assume."  
"Why do you say that, I mean we are both from the same field of intelligence but yet I can't stand you sometimes."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean you are sometimes very annoying."  
"Are you saying the core didn't break me, I'm not annoying I'm just very observant and opinionated."  
"Okay then name an occasion."  
"For instance I said you look good, by the way you match."  
"And to my conclusion, that you are, women are supposed to match and the men look like goofballs."  
"So I look a bit out of uniform, it least I didn't let myself go like some of the people who went into the intel field."  
"Are you saying I'm fat?"  
"No I'm saying that I'm still trim like in the old days, besides I think you look sexy."  
"Whatever," Cassandra was blushing now. "We need to contend with the task at hand."  
"And what might that be?"  
"We need to make documents of our data and record all the information and attributes of this subject, if we can determine the appropriate traits, others that match the particular patterns will defiantly be a key determining factor if the system is at flaw."  
"So I need to make up some notes now? Or can I just screw around."  
"You are behind the wheel of a space craft as of the moment."  
"Auto pilot is engaged so I can just wait around."  
"Do as you wish, however if we die I'll kill you again in hell."  
"That escalated quickly."  
"Ha, you don't know the half of it."  
"I thought I was just having some fun. The next few weeks are going to be long."  
"Yep, one hundred and five is a lot of subjects."  
"Indeed, either way I still think you look beautiful."  
"Thank you, and you my friend look ridiculous."  
"Thanks, I aim to please the visually impaired."  
Jordan gave a wink and returned to his task, all Cassandra could do was think about the group of children who would be suffering within the next month. Either way it would inevitably happen to some, but yet she felt she could prevent this even if it meant for one child. She relaxed in her chair and nearly dosed off again, the magnetic sections of her shoes routed her to the floor so she wouldn't float in the zero gravity. Cassandra looked at Jordan who was fiddling with the control wheel making "pew, pew," sounds while angrily twisting the throttle. He may have been in his thirties but acted as if he were fourteen.  
Jordan resided and leaned back in his seat opposite of hers and faintly made "pew," sounds, it was amazing how so long in the military he still acted this way. She closed her eyes and waited for the ride to end.

Chapter-3

11:45 earth standard 16:57 Hechpiekk standard  
On planet Hechpiekk: en route to Objective : Scythian SOZ  
At secentar, en route to location  
System number- 0000022 ( fugukaratchi IV )  
Monday May 16th 2404  
Classified  
_

"Jordan, let's grab that APT-." Cassandra pointed a long slender finger towards the Vehicle. "We only have a few hours before having to depart for the next subject."  
"I know but I like to chose vibrantly."  
"We don't have time to loly-gag around looking for a vehicle."  
"Fine."  
The two rushed over towards the vehicle and unlocked the doors with a wink of an eye, the heavy duty transport flashed its lights and roared to life. Jordan took the wheel and Cassandra sat in the passenger seat.  
"Pull up the Nav, I don't know exactly how to get to the cratri section."  
"I'm on it, by the way, Cassandra? Do you know what our subject looks like?"  
"I'm actually looking over the guidelines right now. He is approximately four foot one, brown short hair, blue eyes, a scare on his left cheek, but no other facial markings. It's the best UNI has to offer."  
"It will have to do, besides where do we look?"  
"Recently I contacted a source from within his school, as of now he is at lunch at a public school, it should take about an hour to finish. Let's get to the section in at least thirty minutes."  
"Let's try for twenty."  
After twenty two minutes, each found themselves rather pleased at the amount of time it took to locate the school. Jordan drove the heavy vehicle into a parking spot on the block left of the entrance to the school.  
"Are you ready? Jordan, I don't want to blow this."  
"Yes, I have all the recording devices set up on my glasses, we can get all the information that we need."  
"Good, we need to act, you know... like we are in love."  
"I think I can do that." Jordan smiled, Cassandra was blushing and Jordan leaned over the divider. She pushed his face away and shot him a stare.  
"I don't mean like that, we need to act as if we are looking for a niece of ours."  
"Sorry, so what's our plan?"  
"Do you see that bench?" She motioned towards a bench on the far side of the playground. "We can sit there and watch him, later I will go and ask hive he has seen a Natalie."  
"Is there one here at the school?"  
"Yes but not today, we have to hope he leads us inside and catch him here. If he does," she pushed on some shades and flipped her short blonde hair. "This is the motion I want you to recognize as follow me."  
"Okay, I have the vial and the the discharger if we need to take him now."  
"Alright let's go."  
Jordan and Cassandra exited the vehicle and walked around the edge of the silver and white building towards the marked bench. They followed a sidewalk that divided the playground in two and went directly two the bench. They sat down and waited. After seven minutes the children were released for recess and only one adult watched them all. Jordan and Cassandra waited for a full ten minutes before spotting James, the watched him play on the various equipment. First he ran to the jungle gyms and monkey bars. He raced across them with lightning only slowing down to allow others to move out of his way. Eventually he fell, as did others but immediately ran back in line to go again.  
"He doesn't like to give up, tell me you got that Jordan?"  
"Yes, every second."  
"Good."  
The two proceeded to watch him as he conquered the kids in various objectives, like king of the hill, and tag. He was not the fastest but was very crafty and elusive. At one point he had tripped and another large child crashed down on his face. It drew blood and James did his best to push him off, eventually he triumphed but did not cry. He was tough too.  
"This is definitely the key subject in our mission. He has all the traits we need, tall, muscular, strong and brave... We only need to test one other thing."  
"What is that? Cassandra," he grabbed her hand and brushed her hair from her eyes. She couldn't peel her gaze from James, as if she was in a trance. "Hey, what is it?"  
"The final procedure we need... Is bravery, and luck."  
"From what?"  
"This," she pointed toward James. "Is the final marking."  
He was in an all out brawl with two other kids, out matched. He was clever, but two to one a big favor to ask out of a six year old. A large kid nearly James size shoved him against a pole and tried to punch him, but missed as James moved out of the way. He had punched the pole, and fell smashing his face as well. The other tried to fight to but James ran to the monkey bars and claimed to the top effortlessly. The other child followed but slipped as he stood on the thin bars, he fell back to the sand and tried again. He was close to James and much more prepared. James turned and leaped catching a rope and swung to a balance beam and stuck solid to the metal beam. The other tried as well but slipped and got a face full of sand. James had won.  
"I think he is the appropriate candidate. Don't you Jordan?"  
"Yes now how de we get him?"  
"I am going to talk to him, we can leave the rest up to UNI."  
Cassandra strode toward James and helped him dust off his shirt. And asked why he did what he did, he replied with, "I did because they were mean, and I don't like them either." She smiled and asked him another question.  
"Do you come outside often?"  
"Only when I don't have to stay inside, I like it out here, I like to play outside."  
She had to remember that he liked to be outdoors, that might be a plus in the future. Finally she asked about his home, his family, and if he liked the military.  
"Well I have a sister, and my mom stays at home."  
"What about your father."  
"He, well, we was killed during the war... I don't talk about him much."  
"Oh, so do you have any plans to join in the military?"  
"I used to, but my mom says the troops will wrap up the war within a few years and I need to be scientist. Now that we all enjoy our technology I think I should help people have better things of it. You know I want to design things."  
"Oh, so you wanted to join the military but your mom said no?"  
"Sorta, say are you a recruiter? My mom says I should stay away for them since my dad was real good until he... died aboard a ship."  
"I'm no recruiter, but my niece Natalie goes to this school and her mother said that I should pick her up after lunch, is she around?"  
"No, the teacher said she was absent because she got sick, I wonder why her mom said that."  
"I was supposed to today, we planned it a few weeks ago but I haven't talked to her in a while."  
Cassandra knew what happened to Natalie, she was take too by this project two weeks ago and is currently waiting at the campus on Fugicari. She was another one of the scythians and soon James would be too.  
"Say James, See that man over there," she pointed to Jordan. "He is my fiancée, so I have to go tell him Natalie is sick. Maybe I will see you again, possibly when Natalie gets back. And I want you to take this." She pulled out a small disk. "It's a little something I want you to give Natalie when she gets back, okay."  
"Sure, thanks."  
James ran off to show his friends, he did not know it was to track his location.

Chapter-4

5:15 earth standard, 1:15 holin standard.  
On planet holin: Scythian development program "visor"  
ST-N-00104-S(H) room No-0072  
System No- 0000061 ( derangus II )  
Friday May 22nd 2415  
James-K-Jackson  
_

"James wake up." Amber said flicking on the lights  
"...I'm up..." James said groggily. "...What do you need."  
"Get up and get to the armory, we are supposed to appear in front of Harold for our suits. Later we have a selection for a mission."  
James jumped out of bed, grabbed ambers disk, slipped her into the slot in his helmet and headed to the armory, on the way amber pre-set the cycling system and his armor was ready when he arrived. James followed the procedure and stood in the red squares. His armor was placed accordingly and his helmet visor was brightened. All the sensors showed up and James headed to the combat area.  
"Double time it James, we are also selecting for a mission today, so, we need all the time we can get."  
"Gotcha."  
James hustled to a jog and made the objective in 25 seconds. Once there all the scythians where lined up in a single row. One after one Harold called them and he or she would enter his office and exit in new armor. Each Scythian would have a completely different paint job and helmet.  
"Hey amber, what helmet did I get?"  
"You ordered the 'EVO buster V-05', also it has a great ability of function in most environments."  
"Hmm, well I'll just see about that."  
"Yeah, I guess."  
"Do you know any details about the mission."  
"All I know is some moron got him self in a dangerous predicament, he sent out the panic call ten minutes ago and we are selecting units for the op."  
"Alright."  
Harold called James next and he reported to the office. As promised James V-08c was waiting. James recognized the attachments and noted that each part would serve a specific use. James stepped into a cylinder and robot arms began stripping his armor and adding the new set. His helmet obviously the EVO buster. The left shoulder guard was a small one fit for mobility and sniping, the LASG/breacher. The chest was easily the HA-DP/grenadier. A wrist gauntlet served to hold a special forepad the UNI-access pad. Spine guards where equipped with the SAP/shadow. The quads held the MS1 EADP. And finally his calf was equipped with the storm-surge/M081. The colors where actually different. The under suit he chose was an arctic finish instead. The outer stains consisted of a black main layer with orange patterns and red lights.  
"So, ya like."  
"Like doesn't even begin to describe it amber."  
"So it seems, head out and grab the next in line."  
James exited the office with his new armor and cued the next in line and waited for instructions. Harold had sent all the scythians a message on the HUD and told them selection would not take place for an hour. Half the scythians chose to go to a shooting range and engage in friendly competition. The others decided to construct an arena with some cones and tape. It was a sizable one almost twenty meters across. The first two to spar off was Quentin Green, and Dustin Wilson.  
Dustin was the first to attack with a lunge, Quentin tried to counter by sprawling but instead was met with a cold shoulder. The two crashed toward the ground leaving craters in the sectioned off concrete floor. Rocks and pebbles flew from the impact zone showering victims in an angry fury. Quentin shoved Dustin from his grasp and sent him flying five feet to his back. On the offense now he rushed into the thick. He had caught Dustin by surprise and leveled him. On the way to the floor Dustin had spun countering the attack. In an instant Quentin was pinned against the floor. He had won.  
The rest of the scythians talked amongst each other and settled matches. James was called out by Trevor. After two rounds they entered the ring. Already craters and chunks where missing from the battle ground and where strewn across the floor. The two shook hands and understood friendship was put aside for now. The two circled trying to psych out the other, after moments of this Trevor had succeeded in faking a lunge. James had taken the bait and was put off balance. Trevor had opened the window and proceeded to go through it with another lunge he sprang loose with punches and failed grapples.  
What Trevor didn't realize was why James was considered dangerous. James had learned to adapt on the go so much faster than the others. As well he could read Trevor's movements and calculate his next in an instant. In all actuality James wanted Trevor to think he had taken the bait so he could learn his strengths. Trevor had James' arms wrapped in a submission. James twisted and shoved a knee in between the two breaking the bond. Again In a draw the two began circling. Now James attacked with a flying elbow. Trevor ducked all but a chip to the shoulder, he heard a snap and the guard flew from his armor.  
Trevor reacted and started to pummel James. Strike after strike connected to his armor. James armor had started to shine reviling the energy shields red glow. A fist had whirled past James helmet and the opportunity had risen to counter with one less fist in the way. Successfully, James grabbed his wrist twisted to the left and shoved an open palm into his elbow joint, he felt resistance and tackled Trevor and left a massive back shaped crater in the ground. Trevor fought trying to get grip of James hands or arms but failed, James was a slippery bastard. Each fought to gain power on the ground. Once successful, James smashed an elbow into Trevor's visor, the strike had pierced the shields and cracked the screen. The special material began to rapidly repair the cracks.  
Trevor slipped a foot unto James hip and trusted propelling James off to the side. James skidded several meters and stopped, Trevor had already jumped to his feet. The opposition had let rip with an overhead back kick, James blocked with a forearm. The invisible shards of his red shields broke into pieces and he leered toward the ground defending from attacks. James wrapped an arm around a leg and Trevor was caught for a split second. He spun and rolled backward to leave the lock. After a successful breakaway Trevor spun and jumped to his defensive stance. James had also gotten up and the shield monitor started to gain power.  
"I'm gonna end this quickly. Trevor your time is up."  
"Don't be so sure, how can you say that when I've mopped you up so far."  
"You'll see."  
Trevor and James bolted and were engaged in a clench. James brought down an elbow, then head butted Trevor. He reeled backward and his shields flared. James followed and tackled Trevor. Once on the ground and still recovering from the blow to the head, Trevor was on the defensive fighting for his life. James passed a leg over and Trevor saw his opening, he wrapped his leg around the back of James' neck. He reacted immediately and grabbed Trevor's neck piece, lifted and slammed down with one arm and the force shuttered the impervious bones of the scythian. Rocks flew in all directions.  
After the slam Trevor had loosened his grip and an opening for James reveled itself. James slipped another arm into the fray and pushed outward. Trevor was one step ahead and used his leg to pull on James' neck, in an instant he was out. Again the two were to their feet. They were both frustrated, the battle was still raging on after three minutes. In seconds Trevor lunged in close guard, James slipped his feet to give him a lower defensive stance. Trevor went for a leg and James spun to the left and stomped down on Trevor's leg pinning it to the ground and grabbed Trevor's other shoulder guard and pulled. With the force of the suits powered up strength James lifted and suplexed Trevor.  
Yet again giant rocks flew from the impact and rained down on innocent victims. Immediately after the landing Trevor slammed an elbow on the ground and propelled himself left avoiding a follow up attack. James skidded low and flew past where Trevor once was. He was tackled by his enemy and twisted to the left and pinned Trevor to his back. Fighting to gain control Trevor grabbed and thrashed at James. James had succeeded in grabbing a wrist he then twisted to the right and planted a knee on his chest. Trevor had submitted knowing he was finished. He knew he was no match after a lengthy battle with James, to win he would have had to end it within thirty seconds.  
The others had not moved or shifted to a more comfortable position. All anyone knew was that James was officially a badass. He left the battle ground after offering a hand to his enemy. He was rejected, he expected no less. He had lost after all, but no matter, James had won honorably.  
"That was fun."  
"That was fun?! I hardly think so, but at least it was entertaining to say the least, well, even from being inside your head the whole time. But hey, at least I was protected from the flying rocks."  
"Yeah, no kidding, now you know how vicious we are."  
"I guess, but I feel like I know that this was just the beginning of how ferocious you can be."  
"Well if you are getting your ass knocked around for ten years we have pretty good tempers."  
"We'll see about that, you should probably go see Harold."  
"Good idea."  
James and Amber walked to Harold's office. Even though Amber was an A.I she had projected herself to James right side and walked with him. Once there Harold announced that they would be selecting people for a mission in ten. So he decided to take a seat on a concrete block as well as Amber. After ten minutes Harold had kept his promise and called the scythians to his desk for selection. All the scythians lined up by number facing his desk awaiting orders.  
"I see we are all here. Now let's begin. First I want you all to pull up a screen on your visor, then link it to the giga-board please. Okay, I'm am assuming you all know how we classify missions right?"  
"Yes!" Everyone had responded in unison.  
"Good, but before any selection we must test your groups to find who is best rated for the job."  
"How are we rated."  
"We rate you on three things, team cooperation and effectiveness, objective completion accuracy, and casualty reports. Now the effectiveness Is rated on how you respond with each other, how you preform with each other, and if you obey orders accurately."  
"Okay."  
"Understood, shadow company? you will run the simulation first."  
"Understood!"

The scythians followed Harold to the simulation room and waited for him to enter the observation room and link up on the coms and visor network.  
"Now the objective is simple scythians, no casualties, kill some enemies, and escort the VIP to the LZ."  
"Affirmative, team lets run a com check, turn off outer mics. Count off."  
"black 5, Alexis perry."  
"black 4, Benjamin Kendall."  
"black 3, Dustin Wilson."  
"black 2, Antonio Vincent."  
"black 1, James Jackson. I want no mistakes, follow orders, I know we haven't worked together before but we need to preform accurately."  
"black 2-black 1, count on it."  
"black 1-all, you know coil formation correct?"  
"Yes of course!"  
"black 1-all, good, let's stay tight in this formation until further instructions."  
"This is Harold, starting simulation in 5...4...3...2...1...start!"  
The simulation started and a bright summer sun cast down on the team. A simulation is played at 1/12 the normal speed of time. But even though it was basically fiction everything seemed real. the area was easily 90 degrees and luckily the wind was on. In the distance a city peeked from behind the rolling hills of green Tennessee grass. The objective was displayed on the HUD 680 meters north on the top of a city work building. The LZ was 300 meters west of that location on a old baseball field. So far no movement showed on the sensor. All icons showed positive, oxygen was normal, no shield depletion, all compass materials checked, and no funky motion glitches.  
"black 1-all, let's start moving, it looks like we have no wheels."  
The team of super soldiers where dumped off in a simulated grassland 500 meters away from the city limits. Only littered rocks and ravines provided cover. The team continued on foot taking refuge behind rocks and slipped down hills that lead to trenches. 250 meters away from the start and no movement was showed, the city looked dead. No cars, no sign of life, only the lifeless silhouettes of fake crows. They where on earth in Tennessee, heading to a new city called transcript. It was a great hiding location for a secret military intelligence facility known as DECA.  
"black 1-all, keeps those eyes up, we don't want any flyers headed up on us."  
"black 5-black 1, I brought some sparklers if we see any of those sorry fools."  
"black 1-black 5, copy but don't give up your spirits. You know the vexerist will have deployed the champions."  
The champions were among the most gruesome of enemy soldiers the vexerist could throw at the U.S.N.A. They where officially known as Kumar-kannah on terms with the vexerist. Of course the U.S.N.A had named the species and classifications of enemy soldiers for easier understanding. But overall the Kumar-kannah were the most advanced fighters in the vexerist army but as well the vexerist has many other soldiers. These contain jinghual-desmi a humanoid wolflike creature with exceptionally good eyesight and smell. These forces are usually deployed in sets of two to four on recon missions. The U.S.N.A calls them dogs as well as vultures. The final infantry class is the gruntchus-gallio-mukumar or GGM. As well the U.S.N.A has nicknamed them too. They call them guardians but yet they stand three foot seven on average.  
"black 1-all, hold up, circle to the rock to the northeast. I see a drainage pipe we could use it as cover to enter the city. Since this is a new city we should be able to enter a buildings by sewage access."  
The team proceeded to the sewage cap and ripped it from its hinge. Then climbed inside and followed a smelly maze to a promised access point leading to a building.  
"black 1-black 3, place your monitors on this wall, if anything is following, we'll know."  
Dustin followed instructions, he opened his leg case and retrieved a motion detecting device. After installing the device and linking to the teams helm freq, he caught up to the team who had opened a way into a storage cellar.  
"black 1-black 4, take point and report."  
"black 4-all, clear. Let's move up, no movement."  
Once on the bottom floor of a restaurant the team noticed it was exceptionally dark. All members activated weapon flashlights and helmet lights. James motioned the team to clear the room and exit the kitchen to the main area, meanwhile he checked a waitress. She carried a note, it read 'it's so dark in here, but the lights don't work. I'm so scared I think I see ghosts.'  
"black 1-all, check some of the electrical wiring or switches. Watch for irregular shadows."  
The team made a low clicking sound on the mics signaling they all understood orders. The room was cleared and James motioned the team to group up. As well he pinched his thumb and fore finger together and rolled it signaling the team to turn outer mics on.  
"So what we have here is a note from a victim, be cautious in clearing floors, we will split up in twos. I'm on my own. 2-3 check the next floor, 4-5 gets this room again and post up on the cellar, I'll scope around the diner tables."  
"Understood."  
"I think that note meant we have lurkers around, so if all else fails switch to thermal. Go."  
The team switched back to coms and went about their duties. The first party went upstairs and the others checked the cellar again. James kicked a table across the room and saw a shadow move. He had amber switch to thermal and his visor showed a big blob of red in the corner of the room. He went back to normal and upped the intensity of his helmet light. To his left a chair spun, and a napkin flew up from the floor. James grabbed a fork from one of the tables and launched it toward a trash can near the spinning chair and found an energy shield shimmer.  
James aimed down his sight and focused on the the spot where the fork had disintegrated and a figure jumped from the darkness. A massive eight foot warrior charged the Scythian and swatted at the gun launching it into a booth before any kill shots could be fired. The legendary A.U.T.O was lost from James grip. Even though this was a simulation the hazards where real. The warrior had started firing his orange-yellow projectiles at James. His shields started to flare and brightened the room with a red glow.  
James rolled and took cover behind a counter and withdrew a MTP-107. The creature had deactivated its camouflage and droll sopped from its mouth. James pressed a rail on the side of the pistols guard and a laser like sword flanked by a steel rail extended from the barrel of the pistol. He lunged and spun the handle holding it backwards. The enemy also activated its special colored lycerium sword and the two soldiers attacked. James parried the creatures sword and sidestepped to the left dodging an attack that shredded a trashcan.  
The alien spun to face his opposition. James held his sword normally now and and was ready to fight again. The creature lunged and stabbed with his sword. James smacked its hand and pitched the sword aside, he followed up with a stab to the gut. The alien stepped to dodge it but James circled around and swung his sword at the waist. The alien spun quickly and countered with his sword. An explosion occurred and sent James flying crushing a table. The alien shattered the window and was exposed in the light.  
James found his A.U.T.O and picked it up in his left hand and wielded his sword in the right. In a moment James flipped the sword in the air and slipped it easily in the ceiling above. The monster charged as James fired three shots flaring the enemy's shields. The alien was close and charged with his sword extended. James threw the gun onto a padded booth, jumped and backflipped kicking the creatures face. Halfway through the flip James had clamped his feet around the sword with his feet and shoved it into the aliens abdomen. The creature fell forward crushing the trash can he had struck down earlier.  
"black 1-all, we have a confirmed contact in the building, it looks like the champion shadow classes."  
"black 2-3-black 1, we copy, two dogs got in our way earlier."  
"black 4-5-black 1, affirmative we bagged some little guys too."  
"black 2-black 1, the building is clear enough let's move on, I think we may be timed."  
"black 1-all, copy, let's move people 4,5 get up with us and leave a surprise for any sewer monsters."  
The team grouped up on the next floor and scouted out the street with the helmets magnifying command through a thick window. It was clear except for an alien tank, five champions, and twenty plus of the midgets. It was decided, the team would head up to the roof and take them down from a distance. Once on the roof of the building Alexis, the team sniper, pulled out a CZ fire-K65 and aimed in on the resistance.  
"black 1-all, switch to outer speakers, and black 5 do not fire until I give the order."  
"James, I have them in my sights just give me a green light."  
"When do we get to feed the aliens some lead."  
"In a few Antonio, do you all see that building across the street to our two o'clock. The one with the glass walls?"  
"Copy."  
"Good, black two, three you are with me. Four five stay back and cover us."  
"Affirmative."  
"But sir how will we get there on foot with all the activity across the street."  
"Well Dustin I guess we will just improvise a little. Follow me."  
The two agreed and jumped. The two fell four stories to a concrete floor, on impact they left four huge footprints and a spiderweb of cracks. James bounced and rolled to a nearby bench for cover. Antonio crouched and brought up James left. The enemy forces heard the crash and reacted on the situation. Dustin had also jumped, but not to the ground, he landed on an attraction sign for the restaurant 'Murphy's. James made a fist, pointed up and rolled it in a half circle. Antonio circled to James right and took cover by a bush. Dustin jumped down and covered Antonio's previous position.  
"black 1-black 2-3, let's go. 2, I want you to stay back and cover us on the run, 3 take point."  
"black 3-black 1, copy."  
Dustin sprinted across the 35 meter road in four seconds, once across he braced himself on a steel corner post and motioned James over. Once James was at his place Antonio followed up and prepped a grenade. James flew up a thumb and the grenade flew, bounced off a taxi and detonated killing four little guys and peppering a champions Shields with shrapnel. Dustin rushed out of cover and lowered to a crouch and started firing killing five more guardians. James rolled out of cover to an old fashioned mailbox, he made a fist and resided. Alexis and Benjamin started firing at the enemies. Shot after shot champion shields flared and the massive alien bodies fell. The three man team pulled into a tight triangle and finished off the last of the resistance. After the conflict bodies and destruction flooded the street. Only a tank remained where two well placed rockets ignited a fuel canister and engraved a crater into the street.  
One of the guardians still hung on and aimed his explosive launcher at James and his party. A bullet flew from a roof adjacent from the glass building James and his team waited from and silenced the alien for good. The team all grouped up and entered the glass building. The objective was eight stories up.  
"black 1-all, switch to exterior speakers... Now the objective is eight stories above, I expect resistance in numbers so use caution. We will cover the floors together but use different stairwells."  
"Copy, but James what if the objective was already silenced."  
"Ben, I don't know, but if he was surely the simulation would have already stopped. But we must treat this as a real test. Since we already took care of the resistance outside there must be more to come and the ones upstairs must have already been alerted."  
"Understood, so what's the pairs?"  
"Antonio is with me, you three will take the west stairs, we will get the east."  
"Understood."  
Each group of scythians followed orders and marched up the steps, once upstairs the fire teams cleared each floor and proceeded up. The next two floors where clear but left strong traces of a presence. Downstairs a loud crash rang throughout the glass building, soon after an explosion rocked the entire second floor. Glass fluttered helplessly to the ground and the wind took papers into the streets below. The carpet below the boots of soldiers began to tilt and tear one degree at a time.  
"We need to move! An explosion altered the supports of the floor below us, split up and get to the top and find the objective on the way."  
"On it James."  
James and the team split up and stomped up the stairs, on the next floor every scythians sensors showed twenty plus foot mobiles. Ben, Dustin, and Alexis stacked up on the door leading into that floor. He cooked a grenade, kicked down the gray steel door and lobbed it in the middle of a group of guardians. The explosion shredded desks and sprayed an alien massacre across the room. A gaping hole peeked from behind the smoke and devoured a stumbling vulture sending him into a coffee pot below. Still forces lingered in the room and used the flipped desks as cover.  
Moments later, Antonio burst through the opposite staircase door, dove behind a pillar, and sent a volley of lead into the wooden tops of the now splintering desks. A champion sprang from behind a shredded desk and launched a counter attack, Antonio's bullets pinged off of the shields and struck nearby foes. The alien howled as a bullet penetrated the shield and struck his eye, he fell back and slipped into the hole behind and crushed the vulture below finishing him off. James finally reached the top and instantly was washed with red energy. His shields reacted and glowed red. James joined Antonio and took cover by a nearby podium. As well the other three teammates had taken refuge by a pillar.  
Slowly the building slipped and tilted, Amber had put a timer on all the scythians HUDs, in 2:18 the building would be no more. The team still had about eight hostiles to get, James stuck his pinky and fore finger up and made a fist. He and Ben went hand to hand on the aliens as the others refreshed their weapons. James ripped a javelin sized stick of wood from a desk and launched it into three guardians pinning them to a wall like a shish-kabob. Ben had grabbed a stapler and stomped it into a vultures foot pinning it to the ground, the last champion lunged in his direction, he ducked and James ran up and superman punched the alien then drove a knife into its skull. Another vulture attended the brawl and was met with a hard elbow sending it back to the desk he had left fifteen feet way. James attacked the group of two guardians by the vulture that had just been hit while Ben finished the one pinned to the floor.  
"Alright team let's go we only got a Minuit and forty until this buildings gone. Storm up the stairs and use explosives on large groups."  
"Copy."  
The team turned after the brawl and stormed up again, this time it was getting tough to climb. The building was easily tilted more than twenty degrees from flat. Even more so the side of the building the stairwell rested on was the one suspended up higher. On the fifth floor the enemy had time to prepare, steel desks where placed tactically so it was hard to get a hit, an an auto-turret was flanked by pillars and wooden desks. This time James was first to enter and first to dive for cover. Once the team was behind the sufficient cover of pillars and office chairs, volleys of red and orange energy seared across the room above the scythians heads.  
It took three grenades, 675 rounds of auto fire and a well placed rocket to destroy all but one enemy. A champion General was left to defend for himself and found himself quickly overwhelmed by auto fire. He fell quickly and cursed his luck in an alien tongue. The team scanned the room for any hidden survivors and again marched upstairs. Only one minute left to climb two more floors but luckily the next floor was clear.  
"Alright team this next floor is the last, we have fifty seconds. Do not execute the objective I'm positive he is taken hostage."  
"Understood."  
Alexis was the first to enter the room and found herself surrounded by champions at gun point, she stopped and raised her hands. By then the rest of the team was by her side in the same position. What seemed to be the champions leader stepped up, he was dressed in pale white delicate armor. At first it spoke in its native tongue. "Greech taluobu kramb shentu, Grrshin durno Imblamch kodinka." Another officer stepped up, whispered something in, were an ear might reside, and transferred to English.  
"You are the desolation of our honor, you will be silenced before the hour is up."  
The alien activated his lycerium sword and was about to strike Alexis down when the building bucked and started to tilt even faster. " we only have fifteen seconds until we are dust." Amber had stated, she was right and at this rate the hostage might tumble out of the building. The hostage, James remembered, he lunged toward a stumbling champion, took his sword, and struck him and a fellow alien down.  
"Everyone, we need to leave, jump to that building across the road when the building is closer."  
"Affirmative, what about the hostage?"  
"Keep going team, I've got him."  
James sprinted past two champions and tackled another, the team had drawn the attention of the others and had them pinned down with fire. James broke the bones of the alien he had tackled, shoved his knife in its heart, and grabbed the hostage with a free arm. The time had drained to seven seconds and the enemies were becoming aggressive, James tossed a grenade at the ceiling, watched it bounce and shred a champion. The other started to feel the effects of the tilting building and tried to bail for the opposite building. He failed and fell four stories to a bone crushing death. James team was already across the gap and he had three seconds. The building bucked fell a story and James had made his leap, he only made the jump by a few inches, crashed through a glass window, and made sure the hostage was safe.  
"Are you okay? What's your service."  
The hostage stood up, nodded his head and handed James a card.  
It read, Daniel L. Jenkins, Intel officer - SN: 1285700.  
"So Daniel do you know how to fire a weapon?" He nodded. " good here's a pistol, we aren't out of the jungle yet. Actually the team is two floors above and this building is giving off a strange interference."  
"James, this officer is a mute, also I am detecting four vexerist drop ships about a mile out, as well as a huge amount of ground troops."  
"Alright, is it possible to break through the static and contact the group?"  
"Negative, the vexerist have deployed several jammers and it will be impossible to get a clear message without disabling them."  
"Great, now in order to finish this mission we need to disable the jammers."  
"What makes you think that James."  
"We have to call for evac right?"  
"True, but whose to say evac is air transport, what we need to do is split up send two to deactivate the jammers and the rest with our objective to the evac sight. If that's the finish line the simulation will end and if not we will still be deactivating the jammers."  
"Okay, so let's head upstairs."  
The two headed upstairs, that floor was clear, the next was too. James wondered if his team didn't make it, he scanned the room then walked over and looked out an open frame of a window. The building they had just inhabited was flattened to about the size of a story is height. All the glass was shattered and the only evidence of life was alien. He shrugged and turned to find himself at gun point and the hostage hidden behind a flipped desk. James team made no sound and were oblivious to the hostages presence.  
"Hey team, lower your guard, its James." Ben stepped forward and demanded his I.D.  
"I don't have it, but I do know my service tag."  
"Tell us."  
"James K. Jackson, Sc-Commander: 0072-2511."  
"It matches, your good James. Now, where is our V.I.P?"  
"To your left Ben, behind a desk."  
James motioned him to come out of hiding and lower his guard. After a round of questions amber alerted them that he is a mute, also that a huge assault team was headed this way.  
"So what's the plan James, and why isn't coms online?"  
"Amber said there is jammers in the vicinity lex, also she wants to propose a plan that may save our skins."  
"What's that?"  
"She wants two of us to go and find the jammers to deactivate them, and the rest with our V.I.P to go to the evac."  
"Why would we split up?"  
"It's simple, if we make it to the LZ we win, but if the jammers need to be deactivated to call in a ride home then we will already be on the job."  
"Sounds like a plan."  
"It is, so Amber, how many jammers are there."  
"Seems like five, but If we deactivate four, a signal may be able to get through."  
"So it's settled, team, I want us to get to the roof first, then we will pick sides."  
The team marched up the stairs, entered another door, and was splashed with bright coursing light. The sun was nearing noon and the vexerist had finished dropping off the load a block and a half north of the building. They hadn't spotted them yet, split into ten groups of five, and checked out the fallen building. A few seconds later a tank, three single person ground vehicles, and four fast movers, came from around the block. The tank brought up the rear while the rovers sped up to the foot mobiles. The four sentries gained altitude and circled a building to the west. The team took this time to jump under a steel owning that housed some generator equipment. They screamed by and speed to the east beginning to slowly turn around another building.  
"We will get no progress with those sentries in the air James."  
"I know, Ben I want you to take out the sentries with Alexis using a silenced rifle. So they can't hear you make sure they explode near the corner of a building so it seems they had crashed. Dustin stay here, and Antonio your with me."  
The V.I.P tried to follow James and was grabbed by Dustin, he shook his head and set him down by the generator. Alexis and Ben decided to take each sentry together. The first total eight shots nearly destroyed the aircraft and a ninth from Alexis' rifle brought him down near the corner like James instructed. The aircraft snagged the corner and exploded taking with it a wing from the one trailing its rear. The second trailed out of control, circled the building and slammed into a SUV located near a group of aliens.  
"Nice shot Alexis but the next is mine!"  
"Hell no, I take you up on that."  
The two continued firing and trashed another one perfectly, it snagged the north west corner of the building to the opposite side the street, tumbled out of control and slammed through the windows of the building to the left. It hadn't exploded and the pilot walked out to the entry hole where the sentry had crashed. He howled and collapsed.  
James was at the edge of the building and questioned if he could make the leap. Antonio nodded and they both went, each landed heavily and their shields responded. Antonio's black shields sounded an alarm as it was fully depleted and James was only half drained. They were fine and proceeded to enter the building via a roof entrance. The decent was only two stories before they encountered resistance. Two vultures and a guardian, Antonio rushed in, reviled his combat knife, and ended a vulture with a stab, the guardian was crushed with Antonio's right fist, and finally Antonio withdrew his knife and flung it effortlessly into the skull of the other vulture.  
"Nice job." James said while Antonio retrieved his knife.  
"Thanks, runs in the fam."  
"Anyway, Amber where is the first jammer? "  
"The roof adjacent this building, another is to the northeast 90 yards of that one."  
"Let's get it done."  
"Agreed Antonio, I'm listing the jammers in sequential order of the most tactical position to get us quietly along. The one in front of us is one the next out east is two."  
"Alright, Antonio we need to get a cross this road without drawing attention."  
"How about the sewers."  
"Too long we just need to sprint."  
"How about this, look out the window, their is a car planted in the middle of the road if we use it as cover and leave a trace back to this building, we can destroy the car with a grenade from across the road. They will investigate and head the wrong way."  
"What's the bait?"  
"Gun shells."  
"I'm onto you so just empty a clip each and drop them as we go by?"  
"Yes, if we get across the road successfully we can fire a few shots. Lob the grenade and play it off."  
"Why would we shoot at at car to destroy it."  
"Easy we just place a vexerist body there."  
"Good."  
Antonio began to empty a single clip and slung his weapon. James grabbed an unconscious guardian, and followed Antonio downstairs to the door. Antonio peeked out the door and flew up a thumb, the two sprinted toward the vehicle while Antonio dropped loaded shells. James noticed the guardian was starting to wake up and he knocked it out again. He set it on the side of the car and watched the enemy. After a solid thirty seconds the window had opened, the two headed quickly across the road and slid into an open door. The guardian began to get up and Antonio unslung his weapon, fire four times and ended the aliens misery. James popped a grenade. The explosion alerted all fifty foot mobiles and the tank, two groups of five were sent to investigate. They looked found the bullet shells and searched the inside.  
"That went well."  
"No shit James, at least we weren't noticed."  
"Gree Tokanto."  
The two turned, pulled a knife and stabbed at a gap in the champions chest piece. They then began the ascent toward the top of the ten story building, after three minutes of no contacts they came across the crash sight where the champion had escaped death for the time being. James scavenged two lycerium detonation grenades, an intel glyph, and noted the craft was still useful for a way to cut off any intruders from reaching this floor. They proceeded and successfully attained the roof without any more trouble.  
"So... Amber, how do we deactivate the jammer?"  
"It's simple pull down the switch."  
"How about this."  
Antonio popped a grenade, slammed it into a gap on the device, and dove to safety. Nothing happened.  
"What the hell is wrong with it, my grenade, it didn't detonate. Amber?"  
"The grenades now are detonated by an electrical charge, the magnetic field generated by the jammer stopped the charge. And actually that extra energy fried the control panel and canceled the signal."  
"So it's off?"  
"For now, but once the other four are deactivated they will all detonate."  
"Good so we can go to the next?"  
"Yes."  
"Good."

"Alright Ben, Dustin, we need to get out of here, the vexerist are getting snippy about the lack of air support."  
"I know, lex, but were to."  
"Dustin we need to go right, you see that levy arm at the end of the building, we are going to collapse it and use it to cross to the building to the east. After which we are going the cross Murphy's and help James with the generators."  
"He told us to head to the evac, and what about Daniel."  
"He comes with us, and I went over it dust, it makes sense the jammers are here, we need to knock them down to access the coms and radio for evac."  
"I get ya, but orders are orders."  
"Just go with it."  
After the brief discussion the group of four headed to the east side of the building, collapsed the levy, and crossed to the adjacent building. Once on the roof they entered via a roof entrance, descended three floors, and jumped through a window across an alley to Murphy's. The sudden breaking of glass alerted one of the vultures, his team along with another two were sent to check it out. They entered Murphy's unnoticed and climbed to the roof.  
"Contacts team! Fifteen flus on the floor below"  
The team dove with the V.I.P to an AC unit and waited for the opposition to access the roof exit, it burst open and smoke billowed out followed by a mixture of fifteen guardians and vultures. They spotted the helmets of the scythians and opened fire. Lycerium discharge sizzled past and scorched the area around the scythians. Ben rolled to the left and took cover behind a ventilation exit shaft. Dustin rolled right and crouched by another AC unit. Alexis popped up and started to fire her M5B6-v5.2c rifle, the 5.10mm rounds shredded the armor of guardians but bounced helplessly off of vultures. Dustin popped a grenade that detonated at the feet of three guardians and two vultures. Ben pulled out his custom Cs-14M and started peppering the heads of combatants with titanium rounds. Another wave of contacts flooded out of the roof exit and quickly attacked the opposition.

"Amber before we go can a signal be sent to the rest of the team?"  
"Hmm, yes but you need to remove me and set me into the control module."  
James did as instructed and felt her slip put of his mind, she told James through his coms to try and contact his team.  
"black 1-black 3, do you copy, I repeat black 1-black 3, do you copy."  
"We're in a bit of a . . . Here . . . Contact you when . . . the situation . . . Control."  
"There's too much interference between us and them, James pull me out and let's hit number two first."  
James and Antonio exited the roof, descended two flights of stairs, blew out a window frame, and jumped to the next building. The distance wasn't far but was a lot of work hurdling buildings and climbing stairs. Once on the roof of the second generator, this time James popped a grenade and shoved it in the same style of gap Antonio had done earlier. James put Amber in the control interface and waited for her to respond.  
"Go ahead James."  
"black 1-black 3, do you copy, I repeat black 1-black 3, do you copy."  
"This is Dustin . . . Finished mopping . . . Baddies, got any word."  
"I'm getting a lot of static, from our end, how about you?"  
"Static . . . We can hear you . . . Clear!"  
"Good, so these jammers is our new target, in order to deactivate them we are going to put grenades in a gap above the control pad, what this does is interfere with the jammers magnetic pulse and halt the radio jam, but once we get all five of the jammers the air will be all clear and the grenades will detonate automatically."  
"Good . . . To me . . . Which jammer . . . Attacking first?"  
"If you are asking for the jammers, you four are attacking three and four, Amber should have placed markers for you on the HUD."  
"Gotcha."  
James pulled Amber once again and headed for number five. It was 420 yards straight north and all alone on a water tower. Once again James and Antonio raced down the stairs but this time to the ground. They headed east and into an alley which provided cover for most the trip. The only interference was the radio static and an occasional stray vulture. They reached the tower, had killed two vultures, and scared the hell out of a cat. Antonio went first and James followed close behind up the ladder.  
"May I have the honors James?"  
"Why certainly."  
Antonio plunged a grenade into the same hole and was instantly relieved to find coms were significantly better. Before they crawled back down the ladder the fourth generator was down.  
"black 1-black 3, do you copy, I repeat black 1-black 3, do you copy."  
"Yes we copy you a lot . . . But there is still static."  
"Copy, hit the last one and we will group up on Murphy's again."  
"On it."  
By the time James and Antonio reached Murphy's the other team was halfway back from the trip. Three minutes later that arrived and exchanged pleasantries. The team stepped out the front door and raced across the road to where they had rescued Daniel. Now thirty foot mobiles resided on the other side of the wreckage.  
"Who has the launcher?"  
"Traded it James."  
"So who has it now?"  
"Lexis."  
"Lex, Daniel, I want you to climb up this side of the building with Ben and concentrate on the vehicles, Ben take out the champions with your rifle."  
"On it." The two left and started the ascent.  
"We are going to circle the building and wait until the tank is gone."  
"Copy."  
James circled the building with his team and waited by a concrete oval that housed various plants and a tree. Two smoke trails headed by a tube of fire arced and exploded perfectly, destroying the tank. Another smoke trail followed a raven and reduced it into a flaming heap of metal. Ben shot the heads of the other two drivers and started to pick off other champion. The ravens veered helplessly away from each other, one splattered two guardians and the other wrecked into a smoldering pile of tank ruins. James let Ben and Alexis weed out some more of the resistance before entering the fight. His team held up signals telling Ben and Alexis to hold fire, then took cover using a metal beam that protruded from the side of the building as a fortified area. Two champions, five guardians, and three vultures flanked to the left, an equal to the right and a lone divine courier champion stood in the center of the road. These bad-asses were at the top of the food chain. The armor was black flanked with gold, and an enormous amount of decoration and protective armor littered his features.  
A bullet flew from a few stories above and hardly dented his shields, finally the jammers detonated and from the roof of the building to the right a massive group of smoldering debris crushed James right flank by half, another piece took down a champion to the left flank. They open fire, as did the vexerist. Antonio was on the exposed side of the right flank and his shields were proving stubborn, finally they broke and he retreated to refurbish his shields and ammo. Dustin pulled out his LMR-CB 10/15 and began pumping semi automatic fire into vultures and guardians. Antonio returned to his flank and finally brought down the champions with a grenade, he was out now and had switched to his side arm. James pulled a combat knife from its sheath, launched it into the forehead of a champion to the left and had the others concentrate on the right flank.  
James ran to the two guardians and the lone vulture, another champion was summoned from the rubble of the building. James closed the gap and produced a spinning back kick to the champion, at the same time he retrieved his knife from the fallen champion and once again scored another kill with it. With his combat knife in the skill of a champion, James grabbed a large shard of glass and slipped it into the belly of a vulture, his guardian friend came to avenge his death and was met with a swift backhand that shook its entire nervous system.  
The others had finished off the rest and James was left facing the courier, it lunged and James ducked. He rammed his knee up into the belly of the champion and smashed an elbow into its spine. It laughed and plucked James his side and hurled him eighteen feet to a window. It quickly followed but games kicked his feet out from beneath him, the alien hovered above James punched his gut. He rolled out of the way grabbed his knife from the nearby champion and started to follow up with a kill, it was met with a forearm blocking its path. James pulled in close head butted the alien, it knocked it back and cracked James visor. Before it could recover James knife was already crammed down its throat.  
The resistance was disregarded and the team all linked up made sure the V.I.P was secure and started heading to the LZ 290 meters west. Once the team was at the field, Alexis radioed for evac and the simulation ended.  
"Good." Harald's voice boomed through the room. " I expected worse, a lot worse than what I got today.  
"Thats what we aim for chief."  
"Don't fool yourself James. I do believe you are ready for the mission."  
"What about the rest of the squads, they need a run."  
"No, we do have other simulation rooms all the others failed or are still in progress. We need to leave in five, so get to it."

Chapter-5

14:21 vexar I standard, 6:41 Octantius standard.  
Currently in combat, objective fleeing on planet octantis.  
Pursuing objective, sealed building 5-grid 16/42/150/3C  
System No-0000352 ( gildakin tuchuma II )  
Friday May 22nd 2415  
Kalo-Ti-jumarki

"I want a scout on that post." Kalo ordered. At the time he was in charge of a full garishiu, or group of fifty. Kalo was a well decorated champion and had slaughtered many humans. Especially with the lycerium repeater, over the years as a combatant Kalo earned a reputation to not be denied of power. Another champion raced toward a pillar and peered around the corner. Vultures leered behind Kalo as the other champion waved them forward. All fifty raced toward the spot and crowded the pillar.  
"Stand guard squad three, we will take the next room and report." Kalo ordered, the team demolitionist placed a charge, waited for a green light and it detonated. The door to the next room exploded and sent shards of metal into armored staff behind the door. The fifty-one alien bodies rushed into the fray and quickly needed cover. Two human auto sentries guarded an exit door keeping Kalo from his goal. "Take the human resistance down, do not allow them to scourge us of our destiny."  
the aliens howled and grew in determination as they fired red, yellow, and orange spears of energy into human resistance. Both alien and human forces fell or fled for cover. Kalo and his two flanks of champions hurled grenades over the short isolating walls that flanked each office square. They heard the screams of the human guards and felt they where satisfied. Again the firing began to increase as more human guards entered from an elevator door. Kalo's repeater grew stale of the energy pack and indication symbols flashed on his weapon screen. He ejected the energy capsule, loaded in a fresh charge and continued to fire. Some of his fellow comrades did the same and all started to fire in unison.  
"The humans are starting to dwindle, concentrate on those auto sentries." Kalo barked, after which a fellow champion howled under the fire of a sentry and crumpled toward the floor. Another jumped up from behind and took his position. A grenade tossed by a guardian exploded and took with it a sentry, two guards, and a portion of the floor.  
"Squad four use grenades on the last sentry, we will have gained access after it has gone."  
The team of now eight did as instructed, five well aimed grenades, as well as three lesser aimed grenades, detonated sending scraps of the auto sentry in every which direction. Kalo ordered his squads forward and to attack the survivors. All forty two aliens hunted down and discarded the fifteen guards left. The alien infantry gathered up in the center of the room and reported to Kalo any casualties, it read:

dochinka-me-isom/Kumar-kannah:113256 (superior)  
jek-do-inka/jinghual-desmi:0604211 (scout)  
dor-wu-inbok/jinghual-desmi:2184920 (garrison)  
mimar-iso-kokanay/GGM:60427189 (pupal)  
yiyar-lo-opar/GGM:08193741 (guard)  
ombar-skar-fazeo/GGM:00302086 (descendant)  
zukamak-bor-imblo/kumar-kannah:020511 (Tentative)  
lebinka-ind-kaleo/kumar-kannah:106428 (elite)  
bok-nota-lekicko/Kumar-kannah:403255 (tentative)  
:| confirmed casualties- depak onso intoka|:

"This is unacceptable, we should not have lost this amount of infantry. We cannot allow the humans to advance." Kalo insisted that a jinghual-desmi send a call out for Nine more infantry. He did and separated from the group then activated a radio transmitter.  
"Shinko kul enin kalushoknul xepat." He scratched into his receiver, Biko was a simple jinghual-desmi, he was just a scout but had fought by Kalo's side for years and had gained the respect as of he were a superior. Within minutes a drop-ship lowered from the black sky and hovered next to a sealed landing platform. The entire planet was inhabitable, every building was sealed and only was accessible by these landing pads. The pilot zepak flipped a console switch and set the craft to hover five feet over the landing zone. He announced for the infantry to activate the respirators and prepare to jump. They did so and soon after nine infantry jumped from the craft and raced into an airlock. They grouped up with the other forces and prepared to advance when Kalo started a speech.  
"My brothers in combat today I worship each and everyone of you, as an individual, you that have survived proved yourselves worthy of a promotion. Today we conquer Wilson. d Wagner, today we will take the life of a supreme general, today we will make the elders proud to see our victory, today you will become legends for to all of you, the strength is inside, you just have to find it. Use this hidden strength to desecrate the life of these humans, use it to prevail. For today we will have victory against the might of the humans." All fifty infantry class aliens howled and ranted over the enlightenment, they shot streams of energy into the steel ceiling above. Moments after the firing stopped the ceiling caved in, all the oxygen inside rushed into the void of space and carried lifeless bodies with it, air locks slammed shut cupping the entrance halls in dual layers. the live aliens stayed in position as the magnetic boots kicked on. in moments five human super soldiers dropped from above. One spoke directly to Kalo and said "But your strength will not prove enough."

00:15 -minutes earlier (James-k-Jackson)

"Wait, what's our objective?" Dustin asked.  
"You are to travel to ocantius and rescue a very important general named Wilson. d Wagner, he is aboard the compost and needs to be extracted... Alive"  
"Of course." The team said in unison.  
The team acknowledged the order and raced toward the fire room and grabbed ammo and tactical equipment, this was the real deal, no mistakes. James grabbed fourteen clips of ammo for the A.U.T.O and stuffed them into a mounted magazine holder attached to his left thigh. He grabbed ten clips for the MTP-107 and slipped them into a chest compartment, attached his knife to his rear sheath, and grabbed a grenade bundle attached to a cross over strap. James flipped it around and grabbed two magnesium flashers, strapped them to a waist clip, and two flares. His team was ready and they headed to a waiting APTLA (all positions takeoff landing aircraft) it's serial code: 616, was piloted by Aaron dinkle, he was a master at flying an APTLA and had guided countless amounts of soldiers to objectives safely. They all loaded into the aircraft and strapped down, Harold saluted them as the door to the craft raised.  
"All right Scythians, we will be traveling to holin's moon and strapping into an HDR, we should be able to get to ocantius in no time." Aaron said over his left shoulder as he walked to the nose of the craft, He sat in his seat, strapped in, then fired up the engines. A large metal door rose from ahead and projected an airtight light shield as it went. They flew to the moon (which only took about fifteen seconds) and gained clearance to enter the HDR (hyper-drive-replicator) and directed the nose of the craft toward their destination. Aaron flipped a switch and said "Strap in guys, the HDR has some kick to it." They did as instructed, strapped in and awaited the arrival of ocantius. On the way the scythians decided to nod off or fiddle with equipment, James did the same. Within fifteen minutes the team had entered ocantius's system in gildakin tuchuma II, the pilot announced the exit of the HDR's hyper drive and sped toward octantius. "Scythians wake up, we are entering enemy territory, there are several drop ships in the vicinity so I have to drop you guys off quick."  
"What is our aim of entrance?" James asked  
"All the air locks seem to have vexerist activity, if anything you can just drop from the roof, I mean. . . You know, blow a hole in the ceiling."  
"Sound good, I need to check if the team has oxygen equipment."  
James went to his team and went over the plan, the only Scythian without space worthy gear was Dustin. He volunteered to stay behind and Aaron had him jump on the crafts active seek and destroy system. Aaron pushed a button and the ramp locks disengaged, in forty seconds he would flip a switch and the door would drop. "Look alive scythians!" Aaron said over his shoulder. "We got sentries out there, I'd duck down and hold onto you kids for a bit." The sentries orbiting the vexerist lead space carrier (known as an eregnium) locked onto the small human craft. They started to fire the dual lycerium repeaters and gradually burned down the outer layer of armor. Dustin locked onto the group of four sentries and knocked out two with the systems rockets and pelted another with 65mm rounds. Since most explosions require an amount of oxygen to ignite, most of the craft spewed small flares of colorful fire and ripped itself apart. All the materials would splinter off in either direction.  
Dustin targeted the last of the group of four as three more groups entered the dogfight. Quickly he targeted the last of its group and sent two seeking hunter missiles to destroy it, the first missed and tried to correct its route to meet the sentry but struck another group taking with it two sentries. The second hit and rendered the left engine useless, the sentry spun upward and took out two sentries, the remaining the eight remaining decided to bug off and return after a wide circle to regroup with a larger mass of fighters.  
"Hell of a gunner you are Dustin, glad your on board to protect my ass," Aaron yelled out from the nose of the craft. "All I can say is that the vexerist are some pretentious little bastards, they won't give up until they're either dead or, well dead."  
"How long till I have to get on a respirator and jump into the airlock?"  
"Twenty seconds Dustin, you hear that scythians? Got seventeen seconds now before your exvil."  
"Just perfect," James yelled over the noise of the gun outside the craft.  
"Five seconds!" Arron shouted and held up a hand with all five fingers extending. "Four...three...two...one... Go!"  
The scythians allowed Dustin to jump off the gun and head into a small box that would protect him from the vacuum. Dustin sealed the door to the box and Ben hit the ramp button, it lowered and the craft decelerated over a steel dome. They all dropped and immediately stuck to the crest of the dome. The lower level of the Scythians boots were fitted with magnets to help stay put in low gravity. Antonio slapped a small pack onto the center of the dome and James held up a hand and cupped his ear. Alexis grabbed a small device from her leg case and attached it to the dome, pushed three buttons and it opened a com channel between the scythians. They could make out an alien voice start to preach.  
"-Vived proved yourselves worthy of a promotion. Today we conquer Wilson. d Wagner, today we will take the life of a supreme general, today we will make the elders proud to see our victory, today you will become legends for to all of you, the strength is inside, you just have to find it. Use this hidden strength to desecrate the life of these humans, use it to prevail. For today we will have victory against the might of the humans."  
The scythians heard lycerium discharge and began to feel the heat under their boots. Each up the scythians backed up and allowed Antonio que the charge. All at once the team filled into the hole and jumped. James spoke directly to the speaker of the aliens.  
"But your strength will not prove enough."  
The aliens riled and aimed in on the team. Each of the Scythians rolled for cover, Antonio popped a erocgnital grenade that would stun the armored enemies for a short time. Over the years Antonio had gained a great recognition for using destructive tactics. With very simulation that allowed explosives Antonio would be packed to the core with explosive weapons or grenades of all types. The scythians were supposed to be of an extreme level of anti socialism and have hardened emotions, and yet they were, at least not in combat. When I gaged in combat and particularly dangerous positions they would be particularly chatty and exited.  
The grenade flew and exploded with a static crackle and surges of energy that viciously attacked the armored aliens and drew them force fully to the ground.  
"Take that you son of a bitch." Antonio bellowed as he jumped up and sprayed three guardians with lead.  
The team was positioned just two meters from the center of the room, they were surrounded by vexerist and only had the low coverage of office supplies and quarter dividers. Some pillars protruded from the ground to support the circular ceiling, but most had been nearly ripped through due to the earlier battle. Alexis sat to the left of Ben behind a steel filing cabinet switching magazines. James was behind a metal topped desk and surrounded by papers and pencils. Ben was struggling with two guardians who had the demeanor to attack in a pair. He whipped out his knife, dug it into the neck of a guardian and kicked the other seventeen feet to a wall simultaneously.  
Ben then grabbed a decorative apple, sprinted the short distance and bashed it into the struggling alien. He felt its skull shatter and was instantly washed in determination.  
The commanding champion hid behind two large champions and fired precise shots of fire into James desk. The metal was beginning to wear thin and final a hole was punched into the frame. James rolled, grabbed a grenade and flung it in a blur towards a group of aliens. It exploded and sent streaks of charred armor and blood around the room. The explosion knocked several aliens to the ground and the commanding champion howled ind fled after losing sixty percent of his crew, the rest followed and fired trigger happy bolts of energy behind them.  
"Permission to pursue?" Antonio asked with a trained rifle leading down the hall.  
"No," James said and turned to his team. I believe they got the message, for now.  
"What if they return, with greater numbers of course." Ben said as he reloaded a magazine and slung the rifle on his shoulder.  
"That's why I brought this," and held up a targeting beacon. "In a few hours the vexerist will have deployed more forces, we are here to mark the approximate location of the area of invasion and allow the marines to take care of the rest."  
"So we are just here to bag a few vex' and leave with a locator beacon here? That's a stupid plan."  
"Yes Antonio but orders are orders, only we are here to escort a 'package' to safety."  
"Whose to say he didn't get got before we get to him James?"  
"His PHM transponder didn't vanish, actually this door to the right is a, well basically a closet. I'm sure he is in here."  
"Then let's check it."  
The team agreed and Antonio had the luxury if raising the door. After it rose into the ascending ceiling, a man with a space graded helmet held a rattling pistol towards the Scythian. He fired three shots and hardly affected Antonio's shields before the gun was ripped from his grip.  
"We're friendly, so you gonna try to kill me again or are we cool?"  
"Sorry," the man said and took a shakes breath and rose. "I thought you were aliens, ...I... I heard screaming and some alien voices. I thought I was the last."  
"Who exactly are you?" James pushed through Ben and Antonio to get closer. "We have orders to rescue a Wilson. d Wagner, we have information that he is here."  
"Yeah, I know him, he was separated before the airlock doors slammed shut on us, I'm just an executive IO, I can help you get there if you take me off this rock."  
"Done, but first this gear isn't entirely space worthy, do you have any suits we can find for you?"  
"Actually the hanger at the far end of this section of the complex has the appropriate gear for pilots, I can wait here with door locked if you come and get me."  
"Good, we will come back with you suit."  
"Thanks, uhh?... What's you name?"  
"James, Sc-0072."  
"Thank you James, I owe you, for everything."  
The team bid goodby and closed and locked the door. James had Amber archive the code and compound lock the security wall. First the door had to be removed before pressing on. Which Antonio brought enough X-2 to blow the quarter of the complex apart. He grabbed a small pouch of the enhanced explosives and armed them in the the center of the door. It exploded and sent charred metal into the corridor, the team of scythians rushed past the explosion before a backup blast door lowered. they pressed on toward the end of the straight corridor and James had Amber crack the door unlocking the first section. Vents pressurized the small area after the first door lowered and the second rose after.  
The large corridors T'd and left obvious evidence of fighting. Two alien bodies were laying dead on the ground in a pool of blood. Only one human officer was dead but looked as if he had been rammed by a vehicle. Blood was stained down the right end of the corridor and trailed off to the right. The walls were white and had steel lower sections and a concrete floor. The ceilings were bare and had exposed sections of thick glass and flickering blue lights.  
"I think we need to head right, it's obvious there was a fight here and trails lead that way."  
Four lights flickered in the lower left corner of James visor signaling they understood ordered. The five walked down the exceedingly long corridor that eventually lead to a battle between approximately twenty specialist commandos and a handful of seventy vexerist. The battle was staged in a large commons area that housed a large scarred fountain and several nice furnishings: now destroyed. The vexerist were set at the far wide of the complex and the friendlies close to where the team entered. The five joined the battle and quickly diminished the opposing forces with explosions and automatic fire.  
Two new creatures entered via a crumpled blast door and was in a very angry mood. It docked between two marble columns and began firing. It resembled that of an ape crossed with a porcupine. On its right shoulder it housed an explosive charge cannon. In its massive hand it held a fitted lycerium repeater. The creature pounded the friendly commandos and gradually worked its way over. The center section of the cannon began to spin and separate shooting our orange energy, eventually the outer section clamped down and shot a massive lycerium explosive at the friendly forces  
During the blast five commandos were vaporized and one took the exposed flash of heat and energy, his armor melted away and the vacuum of space finished the rest. Antonio had a fellow commando hand him the HVL-61 'cropduster' launcher and began to train the weapon on the massive beast. He fire twice, circulated the magazine and fire twice more. The first two shots hit and damaged the nearly three inch thick armor and knocked it on to the floor. The third missed and the last detonated on the creatures forehead. It bellowed and finally died. The remaining forces of vexerist fled after loosing fifty five units and peeled back into the safety of the turn.  
"Commandos," James yelled through his outer mics. "I want you to stay on guard at that blast door, when they come back I will have had reinforcements to help out."  
"Who the hell put you in charge Scythian?" On of the commandos emerged from the crowd. "I'm the commander of this pack and we have orders to press on towards the hanger."  
"I did, we scythians have orders to escort the general outta here."  
"Then get to it, do you know where the general is?"  
"Some where on the northeast section of the complex, we think its by the hangers."  
"Actually, that's where we are headed."  
"Then let's go together."  
"No, we would just get in the way, first we will clean up things here and hook up with the second squad down the corridor, then we can come assist."  
"Sounds like a plan."  
The scythians bid farewell for now and left. Antonio traded back the launchers and double timed it to the squad.  
After a series of corridors and light resistance, James and his team came across a leviathan, a large vehicle suitable for carrying six heavily armed men. They hopped into the vehicle, Alexis behind the wheel and the rest on the guns. She punched the gas and sped down the long wide corridors towards the hanger.  
Ten minutes of a labyrinth of corridors leading to rooms or mess Hals eventually led out to an open bay of a commons area. The large overlooking glass pane was destroyed and currently housed an active drop ship. It released its load of enemy troops and began to fire at the scythians. The high revelation lycerium repeater succeeded in wearing down the two inch thick armor. Alexa's jerked the wheel right smashing eleven aliens into an explosion of blood and armor. She whipped around the center obstruction and splattered yet another eight. Five remained and took cover behind marble pillars.  
"Team," James yelled over the rattling of the fifty caliber rounds. "Focus fore on that drop ship before it kills us all."  
They worked together as a team and slowly picked apart the heavy armor. A lucky shot from the rocket mortar destroyed one of the exterior fuel cells and the alien craft spun out of control. The team pressed on toward the west corridor and was nearly halfway when the alien drop ship smashed through the structure and tore apart a 65 meter section of the corridor. Alexis slammed down on the accelerator and hit a ramp propelling the vehicle over the gap. Due to the low gravity the now floating vehicle easily drifted towards the other side, an explosion rattled the from the crevice below and lifted the back end of the massive leaping leviathan.  
"Were gonna have to jump," Alexis yelled while exiting the drivers compartment. "Wait until my signal." They waited a full three seconds and she shouted, mark!  
All five expertly executed the leap and cleared the jump, the leviathan hit the edge of the exposed structure and exploded sending the scythians further that expected. They skidded and rolled to a stop and headed to the next airlock.  
"Helluva jump lex." Ben said pulling a piece of fabric from a crevice of his knee guards.  
"I've rid a few rodeos before, not the first jump I've had to make."  
"Yeah but this is no simulation."  
"I guess your right, so," she turned to James. "Where to now?"  
"Through this door I believe is the final set of corridors that will take us to the hanger." He punched a hole in the wall and placed a small blinking capsule inside. "This is the beacon the rest of the inbound forces will be looking for, begs we grab the general and call our ride in before they show or we might get blasted back to our home worlds."


End file.
